From http://www.wna-news.com/inanews/news.php?item.1175.15

Thieves threaten the Elimination of the Sumerian civilization in Dhi-Qar

Iraqi national- WNA / Office of Dhi-Qar / report / Since the beginning of the war on Iraq and the archeological sites in Iraq are subjected to theft, voices rise and demand an end to cross-border smuggling operations.

The Administrator of archeological Inspectorate of Dhi-Qar Abdul Amir Al-Hamadani believes that thieves threaten the Elimination of the Sumerian civilization of southern Iraq, where the stronghold of civilizations in the world.

But today, the cradle of humanity is in danger, and they are subjected to looters of archaeological sites since the start of the war, and in a way that it exceeded all of the robberies that were exposed too in its history, which extends for thousands of years.

Al-Hamadani pointed "that the number of archaeological sites within the boundaries of Dhi-Qar exceed 800, each territory has seen eras of civilization starting from the era of pre-history to the late Islamic era. In some locations there are 18 civilization layers.

Al-Hamadani pointed that the risks the cradle of civilizations exposed too are many, but no one is trying to save what can be saved only Archeological Inspectorate of the province, which is concentrated at the present time to provide protection for sites registered on the archaeological map

A number of new sites had been discovered not included in the archeological map, which was flooded with water in the form of partial or total or was inaccessible because they are located in remote areas. "Sites targeted by thieves extended to the right and left of the old course of the Euphrates (and Mesopotamia), located
on a border strip between the four provinces of southern Iraq",

According to Al-Hamadani, a 100 civilian guard employed to report on abuses occurring in near locations. There is a monument protection taskforce and they provide 25% of its members with weaponries.

Al-Hamadani added: "The work of these armed guards is based on the protection of monuments during patrols around the clock. But they do not possess the necessary cars to do their job well, they only possess nine cars operating in the four hubs of the province, this number is insufficient, especially with the increasing number of
archaeological sites.

"The task force is "to deter those looters", Al-Hamadani said. He also added that "some people of the area, but they're not inherently as thieves looking for opportunities to the exhumation of archaeological sites and dug", Then, "comes smugglers and dealers from away provinces like Karbala, Baghdad and the Kurdistan
region and pay large amounts of money for the exhumed antiquities.

This consumes the area of its cultural heritage. There might be museums worldwide seeking to obtain these parts at any price because the Sumerian civilization is a unique civilization, the rise in the prices of these items with the passage of time is high and they will be sold at exorbitant prices in the world markets in both the United States and Europe. And with the lack of real protection of this World Heritage, the old towns destroyed and their archeological pieces scattered.

It should be noted that the fear is growing that the trade of archeological pieces will eradicate completely the Sumerian civilization. During the last three years, destroyed and vandalized more than one hundred archaeological site, and if the Iraqi government or occupation forces will not provide necessary support in the near future, the humanity will lose an important part of its civilizations memories.